New Joey City (Regionalism's Theme)

Welcome to the 57th issue of Backseat Freestyle. This is my weekly hip-hop newsletter I send out every Friday(ish) focusing on one big thing that happened over the past seven days. I also include links (15-25 of them) to what I’ve been listening to, reading and watching. You can check out the archive, here, and read more about me, here. If you’re already a BF subscriber, thank you for your continued support. If you’re arriving to this issue by way of a forward, LinkedIn or social media, please subscribe below. And please share this newsletter with your circle so that they can enjoy it, too; personal referrals go a long way toward my goals for growth. With that said, let’s get into it….

Front Seat

This is what’s driving hip-hop this week….

JAY-Z ONCE RAPPED on 1997’s “Imaginary Players” that “It's funny how once verse can fuck up the game.” The boast arrived during the aftermath of Biggie and 2Pac's deaths as he was attempting to assert his claim for the throne. Case closed. Fast forward to the top of this year and another Brooklyn rapper, Joey Bada$$, boldly issued a challenge by way of a brazen line on his January 1 release, "Ruler's Back": "too much West Coast dicklicking." Case…confounding? To discuss the shot, its intended target and its entire aftermath, I spoke with journalist William Ketchum (Vibe, RollingStone). He and I initially had a hearty DM discourse going on about Joey amid “Ruler’s Back,” “Sorry Not Sorry” and “Pardon Me.” However, as more artists entered the fray (mainly Ray Vaughn and Daylyt, but plenty of others, as well) to respond to Joey, our conversation evolved. I thought it reached a critical point where it was time to bring the chat to IRL to discuss a few wider themes, including artistic growth, rap battle stakes and hip-hop regionalism. Have a listen.

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Back Seat

Respect my mind or die from lead shower.

Trunk (Music)

Music, news, reads, podcasts and videos that I’m checking for this week.

I have an idea for another newsletter edition that I’m aiming to drop tomorrow, so for this section below I’m gonna just include the most relevant Joey Bada$$ v. The Field selections and some of my thoughts, which you may also hear in the pod up top.

Joey Bada$$ kicked off 2025 with a bang in “Ruler’s Back.” Over a slow, breezy joint produced by Conductor Williams, Joey starts the track with traditional Big Apple braggadocio. But it’s at the start of the second verse, when he delivered a brazen, but also what I thought was an innocuous sentiment, that drew a lot of attention. Paired with a lo-fi visual, this felt like a bit of a rebrand for the Brooklyn rapper. [Watch]

Less than a week later, battle rap star Daylyt responded with “HIYU,” where he passive-aggressively namechecks Pro Era founder Steez and self regulates with a proclamation that “the West up but I’d never dub y’all.” The video concludes with a warning: “Not The End…” [Watch]

Here’s where things got interesting. Ray Vaughn tossed his LA Kings hat in the ring a day after Daylyt with with a slicing accusation on “Crashout Heritage”: What’s with the sneak dissin’, taking shots at us then the uzi/ Cause the only Badass the the world was recognizing is Boosie. Bonus points for the SWV sample he rapped over. [Watch]

The same month, Joey Bada$$ runs it back on “Sorry Not Sorry,” another Conductor Williams number. This time, however, Joey ditches the suburbs to head back to the block to flash his bonafides. When a New York dude starts letting you know what address and block they’re from, they might be casual about it but as Joey states he “wants all the smoke.” [Watch]

Daylyt brought us our first February entry with his follow-up, “YHRR,” as he uses New York lingo and slang to attack the hometown kid. And while Joey didn’t offer many digs at Daylyt, the battle rap maestro let it be known he didn’t appreciate the hits Ray Vaughn took: “We’ll break bones if you try to X-Ray.” We also get the first offering (of soon to be many) that featured beat changes. [Watch]

Ray Vaughn dropped his first (weird phrasing alert) major label mixtape/project earlier this year ahead of a proper, forthcoming debut and The Good, The Bad, The Dollar Menu is a 2025 standout. It’s melancholy, reflective and you’ll come away knowing who he is. Yet, I still found the set to be lacking bite. That wasn’t the problem on Ray’s follow-up, "Impossible Patty.” He holds no punches back, leveling Joey with lines like “rappers turned actors got the nerve of being indirect” and “spend a band to make them Twitch like DJ Akademiks.” [Watch]

Joey Bada$$ lets every know he’s with the shits on “Pardon Me.” Over Heatmakerz trademark, siren-esque sampling, the Pro Era rapper pays homage to Brooklyn legend of the past while touting he’s fighting a 20 v. 1-man army. “Know I’m worth y’all time, but y’all just ain’t worth mine/Nobody knows your name, kid, but I know what your aim is/ I shoot you, you brainless, you shoot me, you famous.” [Listen]

Ray Vaughn and Joey Bada$$ trade freestyle barbs, but it’s Daylyt who catches the biggest bruise when Joey starts flipping his name into heat-seeking assaults (“When the planets align, Dayltt getting eclipsed” and “I ain’t gotta book no flight, I’m still gon pack Lyt”) as an answer to Daylyt’s “Backpack” record. [Watch] [Watch]

Fight Night: May 19th saw a whole heaping of records releases.

AZ Chike’s “What Would You Do?” - AZ Chike has had a stellar year and he drops a sizzler with a nod to a dope Dogg Pound deep cut. [Listen]

Daylyt’s “WRD2MIMVA” - This was Lyt’s most forceful entry, but symbolic of his entire appearance in the spat, somewhere between “over the head” and omniscient character. [Watch]

CJ Fly’s “STINGRay”, Kai Cash’s “Knicks In 6”, Jae’Won’s “Bobby M” [Watch] [Listen] [Listen] - A highpoint for me thought all this was how malleable all the talent was in vacillating back and forth between being in local bags and using the other coast a a motif in their attacks. Pro Era’s CJ Fly adopted a West Coast flow on this one, Kai Cash sampled Dr. Dre’s “Lil Ghetto Boy” and Jae’Won utilized a notable Terror Squad beat.

Joey Bad$S and Loaded Lux’s “My Town” - Joey kept it in-house with Pro Era’s Kirk Knight on the beat and recruited battle legend Loaded Lux to pipe down Daylyt’s noise. Lux addressed Lyt’s battle dodging from the jump (“When n*ggas who say they want power, ghost the script/Post the battle, you don’t commit/But what I can do is put it on was, you know it’s lit”) and flexed in a way battle rappers often don’t on records. Still, despite the clip Lux unloaded, Joey was grand opening/grand closing with “You talking like I can’t see Lyt, yeah, OK/ The question is, is it me v you or u v Ray” and “This the home of the 9/11, the place of a lost towers/We still banging n*gga, we ain't never lost power/ You now fucking with the BK Badmon, Harlem assassin/Line 'em up, we toe-tagging, n*gga.” Goodnight. [Listen]

Ray Vaughn’s “Golden Eye” - Ray fought valiantly and as you’ll hear me say in the pod, he and Joey emerged as the winners here. This track wasn’t as impactful as his previous attempts (and maybe has one too many low blows) but the Long Beach rapper more than held his own. He’s a star in the making. [Listen]

Backseat Freestyle is written and produced by me, Jayson Rodriguez, impartially and independently via my company, Smarty Art. If you have any comments, feedback or questions, feel free to email me: [email protected]. If you would like to discuss sponsoring an issue of the newsletter, contact: [email protected] and check out the rates, here. And follow me elsewhere:

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